Business Opportunities Weblog

September 9, 2004 by Dane Carlson | 0 Comments

Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff writing in Forbes:

Why not have a reverse 900 number for telemarketers? Under this scheme you would get paid for each minute that you listen to their pitch. While the telemarketers are trying to sell you a product, you can sell them your time.

Telemarketers make 8 billion calls annually. That’s 100 per household. In response to consumer complaints, 20 states now prohibit pitchmen from calling any number registered on the state’s “Don’t Call” list. The Federal Trade Commission has just proposed creating a national “Don’t Call” registry.

One man’s problem is another man’s business opportunity. Paying people to listen would solve the telemarketers’ problem, create a new business and avoid regulation. As things stand, telemarketers are trying to take your time and attention without paying you for it. That’s why their success rate is so low, which only leads them to call more often, which makes you like them less, and around it goes.

We could replace the don’t-call laws with a simple requirement that telemarketers call only from numbers that have them paying money into the phone account of the person called. Recipients could either name a price per minute or specify that they get no telemarketing calls whatever. Software would make sure that calls went only to people whose prices the marketers were willing to meet.

Creating a privacy market would also allow us to deregulate the telemarketing industry. In a world with household compensation, there’s no reason why we would need to restrict prerecorded solicitations. After all, we don’t prohibit prerecorded radio or TV ads.

Many businesses would prosper. Companies with legitimate offers wouldn’t be caught in the current din. Pollsters would get their surveys answered. Instead of hanging up, people would say: “Are you sure there aren’t any more questions?” Just as telephone companies profit from 800 and 900 calls, they could charge a fee for reverse 900 service, too.

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